


Hallownest: A History

by theauthorandtheartist



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate History, But for the most part it's purely my take, Creation, Creation Myth, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I spent way too much time on this., Might retell aspects of the game, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Black Wyrm (Hollow Knight), The Infection (Hollow Knight), The Void is a dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:28:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28829655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theauthorandtheartist/pseuds/theauthorandtheartist
Summary: Long ago, before the time of Hallownest, there was nothing. No light, no soul, no void. Dust blew across barren fields, beasts riddled with insanity wandered aimlessly across the land with no one to direct their paths. The earth was empty of all intelligence.Until, deep within the mantle, the universe pulled itself together and a new substance bubbled forth. With it's birth, an era of terror commenced.
Relationships: Grimm & Lord of Shades (Hollow Knight), Grimm & The Radiance (Hollow Knight), Lord of Shades & The Radiance (Hollow Knight), The Pale King/White Lady (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Hallownest: A History

**Author's Note:**

> Translated by Record Keeper Lemm with help from Scholar Quirrel. Text was obtained from the shards of many stone tablets supposedly recovered by Ghost from the edge of the Abyss.

Long ago, before the time of Hallownest, there was nothing. No light, no soul, no void. Dust blew across barren fields, beasts riddled with insanity wandered aimlessly across the land with no one to direct their paths. The earth was empty of all intelligence. 

Until, deep within the mantle, the universe pulled itself together and a new substance bubbled forth. With it's birth, an era of terror commenced. 

The Void was deadly. It had no form, no shape, and no face. It existed to devour and destroy all it touched, stretching its tendrils below the crust of the earth until there was no land not floating upon its back. Years went by. Life, feeble as it was, dwindled. 

The Void was different from the common mindless bug, that much was obvious. Not only could it kill with a single touch of its tendrils, It could feel things. Think things. Experience things in ways the stupid mortals could not. Thus, after centuries of pointless slaughter, The Void grew bored with the world. The mindless husks of so-called living beings simply were not capable of providing entertainment in the way it required. 

With barely a warning to the land above, it receded back into the depths, and from then on preferred to stay hidden under the safety of the earth. Watching. This did not help the being's boredom, in fact, it only made it worse now that The Void could not interact. 

Boredom soon gave way to loneliness, and another century passed. Drowning in its own emotions, it finally opted to create another one like it, to keep it company and perhaps make use of the surface which it had neglected. 

The Void searched deep into the cracks of the earth, yet found nothing from which it could make its companion. In desperation and anger, it cried out to the universe which created it and hurled a chunk of itself high into the sky.

Silence reigned as it began to cry, sobbing as no other creature could. The universe answered its call at that moment, and The Void watched as the darkness shattered. The Light had been born. 

The Void cherished the Light as if she was its own daughter, emerging from below the crust for the first time in millenium. It took joy in showing her the world on which she now lived, and became entranced by the color and varied plantlife that she created. The beasts became less beastly as she walked among them, giving the gift of emotion with every echo of her laugh.

The world began to change. Plants grew from the fertile soil, and water flowed from rocks to sustain them. The beasts were soon outnumbered by the sheer amount of foliage that The Light gently coaxed into existence. The Void watched and marveled at all of the lovely new things for it to watch. 

The Light was different from The Void. Polar opposite, even. She was flighty and impatient, moving to the next project before her first five were even half-done. It would wait for centuries just to watch the trees evolve. There were many more differences between them, though the biggest had to be their opinions on the Beasts -or, Bugs, as The Light called them. 

She loved the Bugs, and frequently changed the world around her in order to accommodate them. The Void personally could not care less whether any Bug lived or died, but it loved The Light, and so refrained from purposefully harming them. 

Years passed, where The Void would frequently emerge to roam the surface and visit The Light. Wherever The Void touched, life would recede. Flowers wilted and rivers dried, though it had no control over this. One day, The Light had enough of the destruction. 

Storming into the mouth of his cave, she begged The Void to promise her not to come to the surface anymore, for the sake of her creation (and mostly her Bugs). She said it could still watch what happened above, and upon seeing its hesitation, she vowed to visit it whenever she could. 

The Void loathed to leave and lock itself up again, but it loved its daughter, and so promised not to emerge again.

It took two years for the first visit to come around. The Light descended into The Void's cavern, and The Void was overjoyed. It had watched his daughter gift a small group of Bugs -whom she dubbed Moths- with emotions, and become the focus of their worship. The Moths still weren't capable of competent thought, but they were still more interesting than normal Bugs, so they quickly became The Void's favorite subjects to observe. 

The Void greeted its daughter warmly, but she was not there for a social call. It'd barely uttered a word before she'd made her demands. 

She wanted it to make her a comrade. A sister. 

It was unsure, but relented. The Light was overjoyed. 

The Void scoured the surface for something worthy of his daughter's relation. Bugs were out of the question, and Moths were barely a step up. That left the plants. Unfortunately, The Light's creativity was unmatched, and so there were many, many options for it to sift through. 

After months of searching with no results, something new wandered into the cavern. It was not The Light. 

The Void rushed upwards with righteous fury, intent on devouring whatever unfortunate soul had stumbled across its realm. It had expected a beast, or perhaps a foolish bug intent on fulfilling some inane wish. It was not expecting the frail, young moth shaking with its face pressed into the floor, bowing to it in respect. 

It did not know how to react. 

Interpreting his silence as a cue to speak, the little violet moth spoke with primitive words, calling herself Seer. She claimed to be an acolyte of The Light, one of very few blessed with the first loose interpretations of what might pass for a mind. She had traveled far to find The Void, to offer an option of plant that might suit her goddess. 

The Void, amused and slightly honored, allowed her to continue. The little moth had gained its respect, traveling such distances and enduring such danger for The Light. 

Seer told of a tree, close to where her family lived, with pure white bark and pale pink flowers. It had faithfully borne little red fruits every year since its sprouting, and had been well taken care of by Seer's family for generations.

A quick look to the surface told The Void of her truthfulness. The tree stood tall and strong on the apex of a hill, providing shelter for a small colony of Moths. The tree was perfect.

Seer's honesty was honorable, so it would allow her to live. In fact, as a token of goodwill, it would keep her alive and sustained for many centuries to come.

Thanking her for her journey, The Void promised safe trip home. The moment she left, it turned its eyes to the tree. 

Tendrils of darkness snaked up from beneath the surface, tangling with the roots of the great tree and winding up around its trunk. The Moths that had gathered around fled to a safe distance, but curiosity bid them watch. They had never known anything but The Light before, and The Void was not The Light. 

The Moths looked on in awe as the great tree was transformed in front of their very eyes. The process was lengthy, as The Void expected only the best sibling for his daughter. When the tendrils finally receded, and The Void was pleased with its work, the plant had grown exponentially from its original size, towering over the Moths with elegance and poise. 

Blue eyes opened, and The Root took their first breath. 

The Void was pleased. 

The Light and The Root took to each other instantly, though in slightly different ways. The Light was zealous in her love for them, aiming to never leave their side. The Root was more cautious in their approach, creating animals to live amongst the plants and giving The Light's favorite Moths fully fledged minds as gifts to the older sister. The Void loved both of them equally, as its own children.

They were quite the pair. With The Light's emotions and The Root's minds, Moths and Bugs alike began to become more civilized. Cities and kingdoms formed, which The Light was all too happy to rule over as their goddess. The Root prefered a more quiet lifestyle, separated from civilization to be alone with their animal creations. 

They actually visited The Void quite often, which it was glad for, often bearing stories and gifts from the surface above. It all but made up for the lack of promised visits from The Light, and The Void listened intently to all they had to say no matter how mundane. They loved their daughter completely. 

More time passed, and The Void more or less allowed its daughters to run the surface however they saw fit, letting them play with their mortal toys while spending its own days shifting between slumber and wakefulness. 

The group of Moths that had seen him form The Root had somehow managed to find its cave, and now worshipped it as the god it was. It did not mind this, so left them alone beyond the occasional miracle or sign for its own amusement. Beyond this small group of moths, the world forgot it existed. 

Most of its time was spent asleep in its cave. However, The Void was nothing if not sentimental, so each time either of its daughters would call for advice or come to visit, The Void would answer. It would always be there when they needed it.

One day, The Root ran into its cavern distraught, their delicate branches dripping with tears. The Root was not one to cry easily, and so The Void assumed the worst. After drying their eyes, it gently inquired what the matter was. 

Through their sobs, The Root managed to tell it that they and The Light had bickered. The Light had been treating them worse than her Moths, and she treated the Moths very cruelly. The Root had softly asked if The Light could perhaps be a little kinder to them both, and gotten a blow to the cheek for her troubles. 

The Void was livid. It had bent over backwards for The Light on many occasion: sealing itself away and creating The Root as a sister for her, but The Light had offered only cruelty and broken promises in return. It could handle the insults to itself, but it could not let this crime against its other daughter slide. It loved both its children equally, but this one needed to be punished somehow, lest this happen again. 

Softly, so as not to startle The Root. It asked what it could do for them. It would deal with The Light after The Root was taken care of, as any good father should. Through her tears, The Root asked The Void for friends, so they would have others to protect them when The Light came. 

A plan formed, and The Void agreed. It allowed The Root sanctuary in a small portion of its cave, protecting her from The Light while it looked for a secluded place to work. 

Finding a deep canyon, The Void broke its promise to The Light for the first time, emerging from the mantle to search for a worthy creature. A bat hung upside-down in a cave, and an earthworm crawled below it. The Void took both.

The Light's proudest achievement was known as the Realm of Dreams, a world of her own creation from which she could communicate with any living being that housed a mind. The Void could not go there on its own, and thus, could not regulate her use. It needed something that would balance the scales. 

For this purpose, from the bat, he created the Grimmfyres; a race of draconic creatures who would roam the dream world. They would cause nightmares to those who deserved them, and eat the bad dreams of those who didn't. They would regulate The Light's power in the Dream Realm. To lead them, and to make good on his promise to The Root, another bat was taken and transformed. The Nightmare King took flight. 

The Void was not done. The Light had shown herself to be unsuited for leadership on the surface, and so that too needed to be contested. It needed something to pose a threat to the Moths and Bugs, something with a mind and emotions, yet with power unrivaled by any of the lesser beings below. Something big. 

The worm became the Wyrms, and The Void set them loose upon the land. Two Great Wyrms of black and white were placed in authority over them. One to wage war, the other to negotiate peace. 

Once finished and satisfied with its work, it gathered The Nightmare King and the Great Wyrms together and brought them back beneath the surface to meet its darling Root. 

The four of them took to each other immediately, and The Void watched in silent pleasure as their friendship grew. The White Wyrm and The Root seemed to share an especially tight bond, though The Void would not know the extent of it until much later. 

They all left its cavern in high spirits, thanking it for bringing them together and promising to visit again soon. That was all it could ever wish for, and so it sent them on their way. Creating two new species and three new gods took a lot of its energy, and so soon after they all left The Void fell back into slumber. 

It did not last long. 

The Light burst into its cave less than a year later, demanding what all of these new gods were doing with _her_ kingdoms and _her_ Dream World. As much as it killed The Void inside, it did not respond. It loved its daughter, but ignored her just this once. Hopefully she would learn her lesson and apologize, because these new changes were not going away any time soon. The Light left in a furious huff, and The Void fell back into slumber to regain its strength. 

After all, it had three new children to take care of now, and it could only hope they would turn out better.

The world got much more chaotic from then on, and many things happened that The Void did not intend. 

For one, only a couple decades later, the other gods actually managed to lock The Light into the Dream Realm without needing The Void's assistance. She put up quite the fight, but after years of war the four of them managed to seal her away for the time being. The Void was saddened at her absence, but knew it had to be done. Hopefully her time in isolation would not be wasted. 

The Nightmare King was appointed her jailer, and thus had to stay in the Dream World to make sure she didn't escape. The Void's last meeting with The Nightmare King was a tearful one, but it left it's eldest son with a blessing before he left. The Void would see to it that The Nightmare King would walk the earth again, no matter what it took. 

In The Light's absence, The White Wyrm took over her kingdom while the Black Wyrm continued conquest. He ruled it well, but it would take the Moths -except for one Seer- centuries to forget their old goddess. 

The second surprising thing, another century after The Light's sealing, was the wedding. The Root and The White Wyrm had fallen in love some time after The Light's unwilling banishment, and since the two of them technically did not share any blood relations -The Void had no blood to give, and The Root was, for all intents and purposes, a tree- there was no opposition. The Void emerged from below for the first time since creating the Wyrms in order to attend the wedding. 

The Root changed their name to The White Lady in honor of her husband, and the White Wyrm shed its skin into something smaller and more approachable by his people. The Void took his old carcass and hid it below the ground, away from greedy bugs who would want to sell the glistening scales. Together, they founded the kingdom of Hallownest on the land directly above his cavern. The Void could not have been happier. 

The Black Wyrm did not come to the event. 

It was not until it was too late when The Void found out why, for it had fallen back asleep after it had finished, and was not awoken until many centuries after the deed was done. 

While he slumbered, the Black Wyrm had grown jealous of the White Wyrm, for he too had loved The White Lady, and attacked Hallownest when he was sure The Void wouldn't intervene. The war was long and bloody, and the wyrm species was completely wiped out in their battles, as well as the small moth tribe that had worshipped The Void. The Seer had been forced into hiding with her son, protected by The Void even in its sleep. 

The White Wyrm, in his desperation, had even gone so far as to steal from The Void itself. Taking small samples of its substance to make warriors of his own to combat the Black Wyrm's forces. 

The three-century long skirmish ended with the White Wyrm's Void soldiers slaying his brother The Black Wyrm. The god's death became enough of a major event to awaken The Void from its slumber, just in time to watch the stolen pieces of itself snuff the life from its child's eyes. Distraught and angry at his only remaining son, it took The Black Wyrm's corpse and lay it in the deepest recesses of its cavern. A fitting burial for the mighty creature.

Where had it gone wrong? 

The White Wyrm and his Lady tried their best to console The Void, but their efforts only worked to emphasize the absence of three of its beloved children. Grieving, and angry at the White Wyrm, The Void receded once again into the depths of the earth, deciding not to create any more children for itself, lest its frail voidheart finally shatter. 

Years passed, and The Void faded from history. Only the Royal Family of Hallownest knew of its existence now, and all of the moths of old (save the Seer and her child) had long died out. 

Hallownest flourished in its absence, and the world settled into an uneasy peace. A looming sense of dread hovered just over the horizon, though no one quite knew what for. 

Bugs lived and died. A watcher, a teacher, and a beast were born in luxury. A long line of pillbug scholars accompanied the teacher, while the weevils served the watcher and the spiders helped the beast. Bees separated into their own hive while four mantis lords took power in their tribe. Throughout all this, The Void did nothing. 

That is, until traces of The Light were found in a grasshopper corpse, orange goo smeared all over the inside of its carapace, and it found it couldn't sit idle any longer. 

**Author's Note:**

> Lemm's Notes: This is quite possibly the only documented creation myth in the history of Hallownest. I will need to do some research on it's reliability, but in the meantime it's an interesting read. 
> 
> Quirrel's Notes: This seems a little bit...personal, I guess I would say. Ghost said it found the tablets in the abyss, but the writing is almost as if it wrote them itself. These tablets look a little bit newer than they should, since they've supposedly been sitting in the abyss for eons. Our little friend always seems to come up with a new mystery for me.


End file.
